The heat is on for Team HRC at Mandalika

The thirteenth and final round of the 2021 Superbike World Championship is underway at the Mandalika International Street Circuit in Indonesia, with Team HRC getting its first taste of this brand-new track during the day’s first practice sessions.

In the hot and humid conditions (air 35°C, track 62°) typical of south-east Asian racetracks, factory riders Leon Haslam and Alvaro Bautista eventually got going during the first of the day’s timed practices after a short delay, a knock-on effect of a delayed start to the earlier IATC practice. While the riders started to get to grips with this new layout, the technicians began to adapt the set-up of the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADES to the Indonesian track. Bautista made a good start, setting a 1’37.084 to place sixth at the end of this first session. Haslam finished a little further back, a fastest time of 1’37.423 placing him twelfth. Having recently undergone surgery on his bicep, the British rider has been deemed fit to compete here in Indonesia but is still working to rebuild his strength.

Although black clouds threatened rain prior to the second session, conditions remained dry for the duration, with lap times tumbling right across the board and the frontrunners from session one improving on their references by more than a second. Team HRC continued its work to equip both bike and rider with the necessary tools to perform at this new circuit, and significant progress was made on both sides of the garage, particularly in the final stages. Both riders took a big step forward in the final minutes, each improving on their FP1 times by more than 2.5 seconds and projecting themselves into a very promising fourth and sixth place, Bautista with a 1’34.460, just ahead of Haslam, who set a 1’34.601.